Summary Of Mining In The California Desert

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SUMMARY OF MINING IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT

Gold, freed from its matrix by erosion and deposited as nuggets, flakes, or fine "colors" in streambed gravel, provided the first non-native American mineral production in California. These placer deposits, in what would later be known as Jackson Gulch and the Potholes in Imperial County, were worked for a brief period in 1780-81 by Spanish prospectors. Gold also was discovered and worked at P1acerita Canyon near Newhall in 1842, but neither discovery caused a worldwide rush like that of Marshall's find in January, 1848. The Mother Lode in northern California acted as a magnet drawing young and not-so-young men to the West Coast. Despite country-cousin comparison with the Mother Lode, the California desert soon had its share of visitors on their way to the northern goldfields. Mining in Inyo and San Bernardino counties began in the winter of 1849-50. In Inyo County it began with the discovery of silver by a man named Turner. He was one of at least a hundred immigrants who accidentally discovered and explored Death Valley while on the way to the goldfields in northern California. Having turned south from Salt Lake City, Utah, to avoid crossing the high Sierra in winter (an act that had cost some members of the Donner Party their lives just three winters before), these gold seekers were nonetheless anxious to arrive in Sacramento. When a Captain Smith appeared bearing a map depicting a shortcut to Sacramento that would save weeks on their trip, they chose to leave the main trail, going cross-country to the west. The shortcut brought them to Death Valley. Turner or one of his companions named Martin discovered a promising mineral deposit and carried some of the ore out of Death Valley. Because this ore was reportedly used later to fashion a gun sight, this has been known as the "Lost Gunsight Mine" ever since. Their discovery was made within sight of a

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campsite in the Panamint Valley they shared with John B. Colton and William B. Rood. The exact location of the ore deposit found by Turner is unknown, but is believed to be somewhere in the Panamint or Argus ranges. It could have been ore from what was later to become the Modoc Mine on Lookout Mountain. In San Bernardino County, gold was discovered at Salt Springs near the Amargosa River in December, 1849. This discovery was made by a member of the party of remaining wagons who chose not to follow Captain Smith's shortcut. They were being led to San Bernardino by Jefferson Hunt, a veteran of the Mormon Battalion. The mine was reworked on and off until about 1902. Fueled by rumors of the Lost Gunsight, a stampede of prospectors scoured the California desert after the discovery of the Comstock silver deposits in 1858-1859. They went out in the attempt to pick up the vein which they believed extended from the Comstock Lode southward through the California desert to the silver mines of Mexico. Two groups of explorers in the l860s, one lead by Dr. Darwin French, the other by S. G. George, found and named mountain peaks, a waterfall, a live "volcano" (actually Coso Hot Springs), an antimony mine in Wildrose Canyon, and gold and silver mines in the Coso and Slate ranges, with those over-promoted mines being worked until the mid-1860s. Also, miners from Aurora, Nevada traveled south to discover the White Mountain City mines in 1861.

Other stimuli to mmmg in the California desert were discoveries in nearby Nevada and Arizona. The Potosi, Nevada silver deposits were discovered in 1856, yet not aggressively mined until the spring of 1861, when a smelter was erected. Gold was discovered at El Dorado Canyon in Nevada, on the Colorado River in the spring of 1861, and in

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January, 1862, the rich dry placers discovered at La Paz, Arizona sent hundreds of men trekking across present day Riverside and San Bernardino counties to the Colorado River mines. As a result, prospectors discovered copper in the Whipple Mountains, Turtle Mountains and west of Needles. They also found gold in the Mule Mountains (and probably in the Orocopia and Chuckwalla mountains) and silver south of the Government Road in the Providence Mountains.

In 1865, the Cerro Gordo silver-lead ores were discovered, as well as the lead deposits of the Gunsight Mine east of Tecopa. Cerro Gordo was the most significant discovery of the 1860s, and was to Los Angeles what the Comstock was to San Francisco. Mining engineer Mortimer Belshaw systematically developed the whole hill, conquering problems in linking Cerro Gordo to the outside world, smelting ore and bringing water to the area. Criticized as a ruthless businessman, Belshaw nevertheless furnished the technology and obtained the capital needed to extract a large percentage of the seventeen million dollars produced from the hill. In 1866, the St. John Gold Mine in Kern County was found, followed by the Paymaster silver mine in Imperial County in 1867. Although the mines at Providence, Coso, Salt Springs and in the Slate Range were vacated in the late 1860s because of Indian troubles, by 1870, the threat of Indian attack had been removed, and prospectors began heading back to the abandoned portions of the desert. The Copper World was discovered by 1868 and silver at lvanpah in 1869. Silver was mined at the Macedonia District in 1872 and in the New York Mountains during 1873. Gold was discovered near Twentynine Palms in 1873 and has been worked off and on until today. Prosperity reigned after the Civil War and lasted until1873. The bank panic that year and subsequent depression curtailed 274

speculative capital for mining just at a moment when three significant discoveries were made at Panamint (discovered six months before the crash), Darwin, and Lookout. Of these three silver-lead districts Panamint is the most famous and least productive, receiving too much publicity and being over-promoted. Two years after its discovery, Panamint was already on the decline. Darwin was developed by Abner Elder and Victor Beaudry, two of Belshaw's ex-partners, while Lookout received the attention of Senator George Hearst. From the mid l870s to the early l880s, Darwin and Lookout produced the same amount of wealth, approximately two million dollars each. Production figures for Darwin and Lookout continued to match each other like mirrors until World War I, when Darwin produced three and a half million pounds of lead and three hundred thousand ounces of silver, while Lookout produced barely two hundred and fifty pounds of lead and only thirty-four thousand ounces of silver. Although Darwin finally proved itself the richer area, supported a bigger town, and had its own newspaper, both should share the spotlight equally as the significant California desert mining districts of the l870s. The l880s were years of general prosperity. The coming of the railroads, the A&P via Needles, and Southern Pacific building southward to Yuma, stimulated new mining, particularly in San Bernardino County. There, Ivanpah, worked since 1870 for silver, was essentially developed by two companies in 1880 and 1881. Also, two prospectors from Ivanpah discovered the Bonanza King silver mine in the Providence Mountains which flourished from January, 1883 to June, 1885. In 1885 and 1886 the Cambria Mine at Nantan was active, and late in 1889 silver and gold were discovered in the Old Woman Mountains. Further west in the county, the Oro Grande gold mines began development in late 1880, and in the spring of 1881, the Calico silver deposits were discovered and boomed for a decade. In Riverside County,

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the Palen copper mines were located in 1880, and gold was discovered in 1886 in the Chuckwalla Mountains. Gold dominated the l890s. The Panic of 1893 resulted in political decisions unfavorable to the silver interests, but these decisions inspired the discovery and working of the Goler, Rademacher, Mojave and Summit Dry Diggings in Kern County, the Radcliffe Mine in Inyo County, the Vanderbilt, Hidden Hill, Dale, Ibex and Old Woman Mountains in San Bernardino County, and Arica Mountain in Riverside County. The highlight of the l890s without a doubt was the discovery of the Olympus (Yellow Aster) gold mine in Kern County which brought Randsburg into existence in 1895. Randsburg was a well-established gold-mining community by 1900. Four years later tungsten was discovered nearby, creating the area's second boom. In 1919, while the Atolia tungsten mines were experiencing a brief slump (due to the end of World War I) silver was discovered at Red Mountain, causing the third rush to the area. The price of silver was kept artificially high, allowing the California Rand silver mine to be operated during the 1920s at a profit. However, most of the other mines throughout the California desert were inactive during this inflationary period. While gold mining at the Yellow Aster was drawing national attention in the l890s, copper prices had risen enough to reopen the Copper World Mine in 1898. Also, Copper City near Randsburg shared the limelight for a year or two. In the Whipple Mountains and Turtle Mountains of San Bernardino County, copper mines were also reopened around 1900. The rich gold mine of Bagdad Chase south of Ludlow in San Bernardino County was discovered about 1898. About this time the widespread use of cyanide for the treatment of gold ore sent many out reworking old dumps, and formerly unprofitable mines were reopened. 276

The fabulous discovery at Goldfield, Nevada was made nearby in 1903, and a stampede there began early in 1904. During the fall of 1904, this excitement extended south to Rhyolite, and soon spilled over to lnyo and San Bernardino counties, with the ephemeral towns of Greenwater, Crackerjack, Orange Blossom, Vontrigger Camp, Go1dbend, Gold Valley, Gold Park, Dawson, Kewanee and Hart springing up. In 1916, Goldstone north of Barstow was perhaps the last camp to come in on the coattails of Goldfield. Elsewhere in the California desert during the early 1900s, borax was discovered at Old Ryan in 1903. Its discovery was the direct result of the Pacific Coast Borax Company's search for a deposit to replace the diminishing ore reserves of their mine at Borate. Greenwater sprang up south of Old Ryan the next year. Its boom only lasted until 1907, the year the Shoshone silver mines were reopened. The biggest discovery of the decade was the A tolia District. In 1911, the Saline Valley Salt deposit was being developed, and Cerro Gordo was reworked for its zinc values. Borax was discovered near Kramer in 1913 but was not developed until the late 1920s. In 1915, New Ryan replaced Old Ryan when the Biddy McCarthy Mine at New Ryan began operations, replacing the Lila C. Mine of Old Ryan. The highlight of the 1910s was the discovery of the California Rand Silver mine, which made Randsburg the center of mining attention for its third decade. In the years immediately preceding and during the nation's involvement in World War I, mining in the California desert experienced a general revival as prospectors began searching the old dumps for overlooked fortunes in manganese, lead, zinc, talc and tungsten. Darwin, Ato1ia, and Cerro Gordo were "rediscovered" and had record productions during the war years. 277

The inflationary 1920s put a damper on new mineral discoveries in the California desert and many mines could not operate with the high prices then prevailing. The Kramer borax deposit, however, was developed, the California Rand silver mine had a strong production, and the Shoshone silver mines were providing a modest output. In late 1924 or early 1925 gold was discovered north of Goffs

on the south slope of Hackberry Mountain and another Vontrigger camp grew up. In 1926, gold was discovered at Kramer Hills, three miles south of Kramer. The 1930s resulted in a gold rush, not unlike the rush ofl849. The Great Depression that struck this nation at that time resulted in massive unemployment, and a tight money situation existed. Millions needed to work and receive money for their labors to buy the necessities of life. A steady job during the Depression also served to provide peace of mind and was very healthful. Prospecting seemed to be the perfect solution to the problem. Frank A. Crampton, in the Los Angeles Times, of April 17, 1932 wrote, "There is an actual gold rush on now, well identified by mining engineers. The operations are not as lavish as in the old days, but California's gold output has steadily grown in the last three years as men, out of work, turned to the old tailings dumps and prospected old placer streams in search of gold. In 1929 the state's gold production was valued at $8,506,703. In 1930 it jumped to $9,45l,l62. During 1931 it increased to $10,708,000. This gold is being gleaned in small amounts by a giant hord of men and logically, as they prospect, new lodes and development will follow. " Crampton's prophecy came true a year later. A rich gold vein was discovered in the Mojave District, causing a rush back into that area. The Silver Queen Mine was the highlight of the 1930s. The combined output of tills and adjacent mines all

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owned by the Golden Queen Mining Company amounted to more than six million dollars from 1936-1942. In the fall of 1934 the Cactus Queen Mine was also discovered in the Mojave District, and produced over four million dollars in eight years. Older districts experienced revivals, such as Goldstone, Oro Grande, Vanderbilt, Dale, Chuckwalla, Arica, Riverside Mountains, Sageland, and the Cargo Muchachos. Prospect holes appeared everywhere gold was known to have been found, and some new discoveries such as the Marble Canyon placers in the Saline Valley area, were made as a result of this heightened interest. Silver districts did not experience any revival during the Depression. The United States came out of the Depression largely as a result of the world-wide demand for products at the beginning of World War II. Atolia once again increased tungsten production for the war effort while Darwin provided lead. Miners at Mojave during the Depression were pouring out gold and silver, and the mill at Burton's Tropico Gold Mine was accepting ore from hundreds of small miners who worked the California desert. The Imperial County gold mines also experienced revivals. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, things changed as the United States prepared to take a more active role in the war. Men were needed in the Armed Forces and the factories and industries that turned out war materials. Mines were also needed, to extract the minerals that Uncle Sam declared essential for war production, and the government paid a premium price for manganese, iron, copper, lead, and zinc. Purchase depots throughout the West bought tungsten, antimony, and lead-zinc ores from small miners. Mines producing these ores prospered immensely during the war, as did the Vulcan and Eagle Mountain iron mines. Darwin woke up during the war and went on to produce one hundred

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million pounds of lead and five million ounces of silver from 1941-l95l. Sixty-five percent of the silver and eighty-five percent of the lead produced from the Darwin silver-lead district was extracted after 1941. Mining loans were freely given when it was deemed to be beneficial to the war effort. At this moment, when there seemed to be such a growing future for the mines of the California desert, many of them were dealt a severe blow. The United States War Production Board, concerned that over 20,000 men were employed at 250 gold mines and 700 placer mines throughout the western United States, sought a method to transfer the men and machinery to operations that provided a more strategic and needed mineral than gold. On October 8, 1942, the War Production Board issued Limitation Order L-208, classifying gold mines as non-essential for the war and giving mine owners sixty days in which to cease operations. Although lode mines that produced less than 1,200 tons in 1941 were exempt from the order, this order meant a sudden disruption to almost all of the significant gold mining that was taking place. Designed to free manpower and equipment for use in those mines more vital to the war effort, there is a great deal of doubt that this order effectively accomplished what it had set out to do. The whole gold mining industry was suffering from a slowdown due to the inflationary wartime economy. The price of gold was fixed, and labor was rapidly leaving the gold mines to work in factories and defense plants and industries that paid much higher wages. At the time the shutdown order took effect the California gold mining figures had been declining sixteen percent a month, and had been doing so since May, 1942. From January, 1941, to May, 1942, the production was declining at a rate of four percent a month. The Bureau of Mines Minerals Yearbook for 1942

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states, "Economic forces were curtailing gold production so rapidly in 1942 that the exercise of Federal authority was not needed to accomplish a most drastic curtailment in gold mining in California. " Many of the mines closed by this drastic action on the part of the federal government suffered great damage through forced neglect and could not be opened after the war. Mineral values still present in these mines became inaccessable due to flooding and the rotting of the mine timber. Only those gold mines lucky enough to receive special permission to keep a small crew on the site for maintenance and upkeep were able to survive the war years. Tropico is one such mine, because it supplied rock from its glory hole for use in building airstrips in the Antelope Valley. The inflationary post World War II years drove labor costs up, adding to the cost of dewatering and retimbering the mines. Gold mining in the California desert has never really recovered from the effects of L-208 and the fixing of the price of gold at thirty-five dollars an ounce in the 1930s. By 1956, most of the gold mines still operating in the California desert were forced to close due to the rising costs involved in producing a commodity they had to sell at a set price. The mill at Tropico was shut down that year and shortly thereafter was open for tours by Glen Settle at the suggestion of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Ever since the 1930s it was illegal for private citizens to own gold, and until the 1960s its price was pegged at $35 an ounce. Gradually the world economic community began to restore gold as the unofficial monetary standard. In 1968 a free market was declared on private gold, while governments continued to honor the thirty-five dollar figure. In 1971

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mining oriented publications appear at an amazing rate. Weekend prospectors are combining mining with recreation, and many prospecting clubs, like the Prospectors Club of Southern California, hold valid claims that their members work. From the recreational mining of gold by the Spanish in 1781 to the prospector's clubs of 1981, mining in the California desert seems to have come full circle. In studying the history of mining, we have noticed two dominant themes: The first theme deals with the life cycle of a mine. A mine usually goes through the cycle of discovery, daring, development, deals, dividends, decline, dormancy and decay, only to be rediscovered and redeveloped with each new boom. Overlooked minerals, new personalities and change in circumstances revive what was once dormant, and the cycle starts again. The second and more important theme deals with the personalities behind the mining activity. Men and women with a pioneering spirit, a propensity towards risk and boldness, a yearning for freedom and independence, and a mind full of incurable optimism took to the desert with an enthusiasm best described as a fever--a desert fever. Hence the title of this book. Desert fever is timeless. It was with those who came before us; it is with us today; it will be with us tomorrow.

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President Nixon declared that foreign governments could no longer demand gold for their paper dollars, and in December our dollar was devalued by 8.6 percent as gold became worth thirty-eight dollars an ounce officially. With the right of Americans to own gold restored, its price doubled the next year, by 1978 had risen to $200 an ounce, by mid-1979 it rested at $400, then soared to $800 an ounce, before falling back to $400 by mid-I981.

In 1968, the Vanderbilt mine was reactivated and in the early 1970s, the Bagdad Chase mine south of Ludlow also was reopened. Extensive exploration for gold is underway now in the California desert, and with recent successful large scale gold mining operations in Nevada, notably the Carlin, Nevada mine, today's exploration has centered on looking for mines with millions of tons of ore reserves. Glen Settle explains it this way: " Mining engineers tell us to picture an orebody in the shape of your hand. We desert miners, they say, are mining the tips of the fingers. They are searching for the palm. " Uranium fever, much like the gold fever of early days, swept the desert from about 1953 until about 1956. With the price per pound of uranium now several times what it was in 1956, extensive exploration is once again taking place. At present, independent miners and prospectors throughout the desert are attempting a comeback. The Blue Star Mining Company discovered gold in the Calico Mountains in 1966, and in August, 1978, coined three and a half ounces of gold into a doubloon as a pUblicity gesture to let people know that gold is still being mined in the California desert. The rise in the price of gold has been matched by an increased production and sale of metal detectors and dry washers throughout the 1970s. New mining supply companies and 282

THE FUTURE

Never before in the history of mining has the price of gold and silver been so high. With many signs indicating that we may be on the eve of another gold rush, we are frankly surprised that it has not occurred earlier. Most of the mines were never depleted. Legislation and price fixing only made them temporarily unprofitable. What, then, is holding back the gold rush from erupting all over the California desert? These are some observations: 1. L-208 prematurely shut down many gold mines even before their ore became submarginal. In so closing these mines, rich ore was left untouched. However, 40 years have elapsed. Mine timbers rot and shafts fill with water, making it an expensive process to de water and retimber mines. 2. A generation has grown up without the benefit of an active small mines industry. The techniques, processes and skills involved in mines are dying out with the passing of each prospector. It is an "endangered" art. The family business has not been passed on from father to son, and enrollment at mining colleges has been low for years and only now is picking up. 3. The ecological movement may have caused people to shy away from and look down upon mining with disgust (i.e. "raping the earth"). Only now are we realizing how little mining affected the land (less than 3/10 of one percent of the total U.S. land area has been affected by mining). The 1872 Mining Laws (rules and procedures for locating, developing, maintaining and patenting mineral deposits), under massive attack for a myriad of ecological and economic reasons for over a decade have only recently been accepted by the non-mining public as a workable set of laws. Although the battle may have only cooled slightly, the fight for their repeal

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by ecological groups and politicians seems to have died down. This recent accomplishment, according to some, was the result of a powerful mining lobby, while others feel it was a large grass-roots effort among small miners and prospectors throughout the West to "Save the 1872 Mining Laws." 4. The high costs for equipment, legal consultation and complying with rules and regulations in the areas of labor, worker safety and the protection of the environment has hindered small mining concerns in making a profit in the past. 5. The high speculative conditions inherent in mining and the physical labor involved may be further hindrances. A large scale unemployment condition has not yet developed (like in gold rushes in the past) that would give incentive to perform hard physical labor. Although no rush comparable to the 1930s has yet occurred, some new and renewed activity has taken place in the desert during these last ten years. American Smelting and Refining Company conducted exploratory work in the Calico Mountains during 1964, and as late as 1976 was reported as having renewed their interest in a planned silver mining operation in the area. Activity is building in Kern County and in the Panamints. The Bagdad Chase Mine in San Bernardino County has been producing since 1971. As prudent investors realize that hundreds of mines made a profit with $12 a ton ore, and today that same ore, still underground, is worth over $200 a ton, more desert mines will be reclaimed, and mining activity will increase. Desert mining was and still is an exciting occupation, with an exciting future. As foreign supplies diminish or become unavailable to us, the California desert will provide a greater share of our nation's mineral needs. Imperial County will supply gravels, geothermal energy, gypsum, manganese, 270

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kyanite, marble and gold. Riverside County will provide iron, copper, and manganese. San Bernardino County will yield tungsten, silver, salines, rare-earth minerals, borax, copper, and gold. Kern County will supply gold, borax and uranium, in addition to its petroleum products. Inyo County will produce lead, silver, zinc, borax, talc, salt and sulphur, as well as tungsten. Desert military reservations and state and national parks and monuments, although not open for location, contain known deposits of mercury, gold, silver, copper, lead, manganese, borax, geothermal energy and epsom salts. They are a veritable desert stockpile of precious and strategic minerals. Behind the facts, figures and future predictions is a story of man's close association with himself and nature while in the pursuit of mineral wealth. Whether underground following a vein deeper and deeper into the earth, or at a camp after just having bedded down, one's contact with nature is intimate, and time for inward thoughts is abundant.

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